Stuffing The Ballot Box

Stuffing the ballot box

In 1957, I was 26 years old and fresh out from a tour of duty with the US Navy. My friends and I used to meet at the corner of 12th. and Main street in what is now known as the Over The Rhine neighborhood. Over The Rhine was so named because of the German immigrant population which inhabited the area in the early 1900's. It refers to the Rhine river being compared to the Ohio river. There were about 12 breweries just west of Over The Rhine area. They produced more beer than any other area in the United States. The 12th. and Main street area where we hung out was mainly an Italian neighborhood and a lot of my friends were of Italian decent. The evening usually started out with "What do you want to do tonight"? followed by "I Dunno, what do you want to do"? There were 6 to 8 of us hanging on a steel rail that lined and swung around the corner from Main Street to 12th. Street. Sometimes we would drift away from there to a store front about 6 doors down Main street to a store known as Al's Smoke shop. It was a very small business only 12 foot wide by about 50 feet long. There were magazine racks that lined the right wall that held all the latest magazine issues and newspapers. There was no such thing as Playboy or any other dirty magazines. I used to think looking at the underwear pages in the Sears Roebuck catalog was looking at dirty pictures. The left side were glass display cases that had a display area of only about 12" high and they stood about waist high with a hinged window pane with glass panes that opened to reveal boxes of cigars from all over the world. There was always a cigar lighter that somehow always had an open flame like a Bunsen burner ready to light your purchase. These cases covered the entire left wall and led to a small room in the back which we had commandeered for our unofficial clubhouse. We all sat around the perimeter of the room with a table and chairs in the center which was used for the favorite pass time then, A game of Chess. We also played poker and checkers among other things and used coke cases for chairs. There was an ever present cloud of smoke which hung over the whole place.

Al, who was always there was a very pleasant old man with grey/white hair and large mustache to match. He wore a black vest and string tie but no jacket. He always had a smile and a pleasant word to all who came in. Now that I think back on this store I think it must have been a bookie joint because I don't see how it could have ever earned enough to stay in business, I remember my best friend, Bob Boles drove a 1950 ford coupe, kind of a small car when we all piled in to go somewhere. someone else had a car that the floorboard was missing and you could see the ground rushing by as you drove. Another time a friend had a car that had no brakes at all, he needed to get it home to Norwood Ohio but everyone was afraid to drive it without any brakes. I told them I could do it, No big deal! So I drove from 12th. and Main street by shifting gears )It was a stick shift) from high gear to second and then to low gear causing it to slow down when I cam to a stop sign or light I used the emergency brake to stop. The owner followed in another car to bring me back home. I made the trip without incident. While checking out the used car lots on Reading Road one day I spotted a very large 1939 Cadillac Limousine. To me it was a beautiful thing. 4 doors and jump seats in the back that folded down for extra passengers. To me at that time the brand Cadillac was a magic name that meant those who owned one was special. I bought the car for $295 on installments. I really enjoyed chauffeuring the guys around town. Our cars were not always reliable and one evening a tragic thing happened to one of our own. There were several of them pushing one of the cars from the back trying to get it started when out of nowhere a car slammed into the back of the car being pushed and trapped one of the boys between the cars. I'm sad to report that he lost both legs.

It was All Star time in the Baseball World and Cincinnati fans were excited as they really had a good team that year. The fans decided who were the most popular players by filling out a ballot and voting their choice for each position on the team for both the American and the National league. The Cincinnati Enquirer had printed extra ballots besides those found it their paper and were available at different stores around the city. There was a rule that you could enter as many times and you wished. So someone in our group decided we should try to get as many Cincinnati Reds elected as possible. So there were at least 10 or 12 of us who sat around the backroom of Al's smoke shop filling out hundreds of ballots night after night for weeks before the game. You were supposed to select who you thought was the best player at each position from all the teams in the league. We of course thought our Reds were the best, so we continued to fill out ballot after ballot as long as we could.

When the results were announced fans of the Cincinnati Reds stuffed the ballot box and elected 7 Reds players to start in the All-Star Game. It shocked the baseball world, it seems other Cincinnati fans were busy voting also but I'm sure it was our group who made the biggest impact.

The players were:

Johnny Temple, Second base
Roy McMillan, Shortstop
Don Hoak, Third base
Ed Bailey, Catcher
Frank Robinson, Left field
Gus Bell, Center Field
Wally Post, Right Field

The only non-Red elected to start for the National League was St. Louis Cardinals' first baseman Stan Musial. While the Reds were known to be a great offensive team with many outstanding position players, most baseball observers agreed that they did not deserve seven starters in the All-Star Game. An investigation showed that over half of the ballots cast came from Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Enquirer had printed up pre-marked ballots and distributed them with the Sunday newspaper to make it easy for Reds fans to vote often. There were even stories of bars in Cincinnati not serving alcohol to customers until they filled out a ballot.

Commissioner Ford Frick decided to appoint Willie Mays of the New York Giants and Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves to substitute for Reds players Gus Bell and Wally Post. In addition, Frick decided to strip the fans of their voting rights. Managers, players, and coaches picked the entire team until 1969, when the vote again returned to the fans.

To guard against further ballot stuffing, since 1969, each team has been given the same number of ballots to hand out. In 1998, that number was roughly 400,000 ballots. Since the dawn of the Internet age, online voting has again raised fears of ballot stuffing. Major League Baseball assures its fans that they have taken precautions to guard against this. Similarly, popular players who are injured often garner many votes despite their inability to play in the game.

I am proud to have been a part of making Baseball history from our little group on 12th. and Main street in the Over The Rhine neighborhood.